The present invention relates to a TV conference apparatus used to a TV conference system, and, more particularly, to a TV conference apparatus capable of easily changing a conference style and a conference place as well as grasping the condition of all the conference participants and the atmosphere and the like in a conference room.
TV conference systems are widely used to carry out a conference by connecting at least two conference rooms located at separate positions through a communication network and transmitting and receiving images and voices of conference participants between the conference rooms.
FIG. 1 shows a typical example of a TV conference system according to a related art. The TV conference system 100 includes a TV conference apparatus 101 connected to other TV conference apparatus through a communication network 120, a camera (TV camera) 102 connected to the TV conference apparatus 101 through cable 110a, 110b, and the like, a microphone 103, and a monitor 104. In the TV conference system 100, images of conference participants 105a to 105h picked up by the camera 102 and voices of them collected by the microphone 103 are transmitted to the TV conference apparatus of the other conference room through the TV conference apparatus 101. At the same time, the picked-up images and the collected voices transferred from the TV conference apparatus of the other conference room are output from the monitor 104 and a speaker built in the monitor 104. With this operation, images and voices of the conference participants are transmitted and received between the conference rooms.
In the TV conference system arranged as described above, the respective conference participants 105a to 105h in conference room get on with the conference while grasping the situation of the other conference room through the monitor 104. At the time, since the image picked up by the camera is a monotonous image vaguely showing the situation of the other conference room in an opposite (or counterpart) station, the image lacks a feeling of actually participating in a conference. Accordingly, the TV conference apparatus of the related art has a tendency that it is difficult to obtain a sense of identity among all the conference participants.
A patent document D1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-184386) proposes a TV conference apparatus including a plurality of cameras, a picked-up signal selection section for selectively outputting a plurality of picked-up signals output from the plurality of cameras, a plurality of microphones, and a microphone selection section for specifying a speaker by detecting the direction from which a voice is generated based on the voices collected by the plurality of microphones. In the TV conference apparatus, the microphone that collects the voice of the speaker is selected from the plurality of microphones as well as the image that picks up the speaker is selected from the plurality of picked-up signals, and the image is transmitted to a conference room of an opposite station. With this operation, a TV conference system capable of providing a feeling of actually participating in a conference can be realized.
Further, a patent document D2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-298651) proposes a TV conference system which prevents a monotonous image and provides a feeling of actually participating in a conference by transmitting an image in which only a speaker is picked up, an image in which the speaker and the persons in the vicinity of the speaker are picked up, and an image in which all the conference participants are picked up, and the like to a conference room of an opposite station while arbitrarily switching these images by changing the image pickup range of a camera based on a specific image representation algorithm.
Incidentally, when a TV conference system is used, a conference is not always held in a conference style in which conference participants surround a rectangular table as shown in FIG. 1. That is, the conference may be held in other conference style such as a style in which it is held using a round table surrounded by conference participants. Thus, the sitting positions and directions of the conference participants are not always the same. Further, since the number of conference participants is not unchanged, it may be desired to change a conference place according to the number of participants.
On the other hand, in the TV conference system of the related art, when a camera and a monitor are installed once, since the positions and the angles thereof are fixed, the installing positions and angles of the camera and the monitor must be changed each time a conference style and a conference place are changed. Further, since the camera, the monitor and a TV conference apparatus are connected through cables, the cables must be also reconnected, which requires a very troublesome job. Accordingly, the TV conference apparatus of the related art has a problem in that it lacks user-friendliness because a degree of freedom of a conference style and a change of a conference place are inevitably restricted.
In the TV conference system of the related art, a camera installed in a conference room of an opposite station is ordinarily panned, tilted, and zoomed using a TV conference apparatus installed in a conference room of an own station. However, even if an image pickup state in the conference room in the opposite station is changed using these functions, it is difficult to display all the conference participants on a monitor in the station on this side. Accordingly, even in the TV conference systems disclosed in the patent documents D1 and D2, it is difficult to grasp the condition of conference participants other than a speaker, the atmospheres in conference rooms, and the like in both the conference rooms of the own and opposite stations. Thus, the TV conference systems disclosed in the patent documents D1 and D2 still have a problem in the lack of a sense of identity among all the conference participants and a feeling of actually participating in a conference.